Increasing, not Diminishing: Investigating the Returns of Highly Maintainable Code

• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2401.13407
• Publication Date: 2024-01-01
• Authors: Markus Borg; Ilyana Pruvost; Enys Mones; Adam Tornhill
• Keywords: Code refactoring; Technical debt; Code (set theory); Value (mathematics); Code smell; Code review; Investment

Understanding and effectively managing Technical Debt (TD) remains a vital challenge in software engineering. While many studies on code-level TD have been published, few illustrate the business impact of low-quality source code. In this study, we combine two publicly available datasets to study association between code quality one hand, defect count implementation time other hand. We introduce value-creation model, derived from regression analyses, explore relative changes baseline. Our results show that associations vary across different intervals quality. Furthermore, value model suggests strong non-linearities at extremes spectrum. Most importantly, amplified returns investment upper end. discuss findings within context "broken windows" theory recommend organizations diligently prevent introduction smells files with high churn. Finally, argue can be used initiate discussions regarding return refactoring efforts.